1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for managing and controlling the delivery of telecommunication services and, in particular, managing and controlling service delivery over a number of wireless communication access technologies and systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Current wireless communication systems are characterized by the availability of a number of transport technologies, for example Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, 2G networks, which allow the provision of various services with distinct features to the subscriber. The emergence of new networks such as 3G and 4G networks will lead to a situation where a network operator will have to manage an increased number of different networks. Simultaneously, the provision of personalised services is expected to fuel the operation of wireless networks over the near future, thereby enabling the user more flexible and meaningful access to content. However, network planning and management is currently performed in a monolithic fashion, so that service provision over each individual system is dealt with relatively independently. This approach limits the reusability of particular service module implementations as they are highly coupled with the specific technologies employed to deliver them. Consequently, the time to market cycles of new services are significantly increased.
Mobile communication systems are characterised by their ability to provide a number of services while “on the move”. The deployment of 3G and 4G systems allows the introduction of new services, which could not be supported by previous wireless system generations. Within current telecommunication systems the end-to-end quality of service that can be delivered to the user is closely related to the ability of the system to fulfil simultaneously a particular set of service level agreements. These agreements are usually signed off-line among network operators for a variety of traffic classes. The ability of each network operator to fulfil their service level agreements is influenced by the specific network management strategies implemented within each network domain.
A problem with current systems is that they do not facilitate the realisation of a coordinated management strategy, which would allow interaction among different transport networks operated by a network operator for a more efficient fulfilment of the service level agreements signed. In fact, as the diversity of the network infrastructures operated by individual network operators and number of services provided increases, so does the variability in behaviour of the system, making it increasingly difficult to quantify accurately the optimum terms in which service level agreements need to be signed.
To account for increased system dynamism, one existing solution is the Mobile Station Application Execution Environment MExE, defined originally by ETSI but now coordinated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project. Details of this are given in the articles 3G TS 22.057 V4.0.0 “Mobile Execution Environment (MexE); Service description Stage 1” and 3G TS 23.057 V4.0.0 “Mobile Execution Environment (MexE); Functional description, Stage 2” 3rd Generation Partnership Project. MExE provides a standardised execution environment in a Mobile Station (MS) allowing not only the development of applications independently of any specific MS platform but also the negotiation of the supported capabilities with the MExE service provider. However, the management functionality of MExE is very limited.
In order to increase service customisation or personalisation, architectures such as CAMEL have been designed. Details of this are described in GSM 02.78 “Digital Cellular Communication System (Phase 2+); Customized Applications for Mobile Network Enhanced Logic (CAMEL): Service Definition”. Service customisation is performed by network operators, which by means of service switching functions are able to adapt particular service features to the user's requirements. CAMEL therefore provides a certain degree of service customisation, which is performed by the network operator. However, in such systems, the user is constrained to access a set of services highly coupled with the transmission technology employed and the particular network operator is responsible for delivering the service.
The advent of distributed object technology and the availability of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) facilitates the definition of open models, such as the Open Service Access (OSA), for service provisioning and inter-working across multiple access technologies—see FIG. 1 and 3G TS 23.127 “Virtual Home Environment/Open Service Access” 3rd Generation Partnership Project. OSA relies on a framework server and an associated API to enable services to discover exposed network functionality. However, OSA does not include any support for execution environments as part of the framework and relies on APIs to enable third party services providers access to particular service capability features provided by each network.
The OSA promotes a view of mobile communication systems where clear decoupling exists between service provider servers running the service logic and the network elements under the network operator control. This perception of mobile communication systems combined with new middleware technologies such as software agents and brokering capabilities, as proposed in “D1.1, Mobile Middleware—Architectural and Functional Specification, Performance Metrics, Part 2”, Mobile VCE Core 2, October 2000, presents the opportunity to evolve current systems for increasing service personalisation, enriching the pool of services available to mobile users and developing more dynamic business models. However, the efficient management of a system with such degree of variability, personalisation and dynamism still remains a difficult task.